Heavyweight boxing & mixed martial arts ratings and commentary

September 22, 2018

Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin attempt to claim the outright SportsRatings Heavyweight Championship for the first time. For over a year Joshua held the interim belt while Tyson Fury was inactive, and he remains #2 after Fury reclaimed his belt last month.

Alex Povetkin has been #3 for around eight years; he was #2 for a month before Joshua beat Wlad Klitschko and pushed Povetkin back to #3. Before that was interim champ for one month, when Fury and Klitschko delayed their (eventually cancelled) rematch. But he's never been outright champion on our site, and neither has Joshua.

That will end with this fight; the winner will pass Fury at #1 and be considered our undisputed heavyweight champ, only the third champion since Lennox Lewis' reign.

Round Two: Joshua busier right from the start; Joshua's nose is bleeding. More work this round, more jabs, Joshua going to the body. Jab backs Povetkin to the ropes, Povetkin going for the bloody nose. Tight round, good work from both; 10-10; Povetkin 20-19.

Round Three: Interior fighting with Povetkin scoring. Joshua now holding him back with jabs. Holds him off for most of the round landing jabs, decent combo near the end. Joshua 10-9; 29-29.

Round Five: Big hook by Joshua misses as he peppers jabs. Povetkin's own hook whiffs too, as he looks to land a big one; he wants a KO while Joshua looks like he wants to win a decision. Good left by Povetkin. Joshua backs up, dodges, clinches to avoid Povetkin. Fairly even round, 10-10; Joshua 49-48.

Round Six: Respect shown by fighters as they touch gloves following a minor foul. Joshua finally unloading a bit, scores in combos. Povetkin jumps in with good combos himself. Both look tired, Povetkin whiffs a few times. Another close round, both men had their moments, rested at end. 10-10; Joshua 59-58.

Round Seven: Tentative start early in round 7, both men measuring their energy. Big right from Joshua rocks Povetkin; a few more hits and he's DOWN. Povetkin up with a minute left; Joshua pours it on, the fight is stopped! Anthony Joshua wins by TKO.

Anthony Joshua has captured the SportsRatings Heavyweight Championship! And it looks like Alexander Povetkin, now 39, will never reach our #1 spot.

The end kind of came out of nowhere; Joshua's right hook was so unheralded that it was hard to tell it connected until Povetkin reacted with a stumble. It was very close at that point, with either fighter ahead on the cards, and no one really taking charge of the ring completely. But Joshua did exactly what Povetkin was hoping to do—score a game-changing shot and capitalize on it. The knockdown punches were a brutal 1-2; Povetkin barely made it up in time, and he was weak-legged after that.

AJ's reign could be short; with the announcement of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder for December 1st, Fury could retake our title within a couple of months. And whoever wins that fight, it sets up a great match with Joshua among undefeated fighters.

Anyone who says heavyweight boxing isn't great today is crazy; a practical tournament among the top 4 heavyweights, with three of them undefeated? That's probably never happened before. Tell your friends: the boring Klitschko-dominant days are over, we're in a new era and it is fantastic.

Long-dormant lineal champ Tyson Fury remains at #1, though he has relinquished the belt due to inactivity; Anthony Joshua retains the interim belt and, unless things change, will be at #1 in about six months or so.

Alexander Povetkin's win wasn't worth much but he remains #3, as he always does. Deontay Wilder's big win over Ortiz moved him a lot closer but there's still a decent-sized gap. Wladimir Klitschko is #5 as he slides during retirement.

Dillian Whyte made the big move into the top 10 for his first time, all the way up to #6, assisted by the losses by Parker and Ortiz. Joseph Parker falls to 9, still young and in good position to make another run. Luis Ortiz falls to #11, just outside the top 10 but with worse prospects than Parker; he's only getting older, and after his ferocious showing against Wilder, the risk/reward for taking him on seems even more prohibitive. Same risk, and less reward since he's lost his undefeated record.

Jarell Miller makes his top ten debut and with Parker, Ortiz, and Browne falling from the ranks of the undefeated he's one of the few left and in position to get some big fights. Kubrat Pulev also slides up a spot to #8 and his path is clear to another eventual title shot. And the overranked Kyotaro Fujimoto might even get a big fight someday; he's stayed active (until recently) and scheduled fighters just weak enough for him to beat. Why someone in Japan hasn't set up a huge Tokyo Dome fight with the country's top heavyweight of all time is beyond me.

Lucas Browne tumbled to #19 as he was finally exposed as slow and plodding against Whyte, whom he couldn't bully like he did most of his other opponents. His prospects are like Ortiz's only worse as beating him will gain no one any cachet. He's probably bound for being a lower-level gatekeeper while Ortiz will be a high-level, much-avoided gatekeeper until retirement.

While there wasn't much of a rankings shakeup, we saw three fighters lose their "0" (Parker, Ortiz, Browne), two fighters keep their record perfect (Joshua, Wilder), and two others keep their record to a single loss (Povetkin, Whyte). Now Joshua can claim three wins over current top 10 fighters (the retired Klitschko, Whyte, and Parker). In the rest of the top ten, only Fury (over Klitschko) and Klitschko (Povetkin, Pulev) have any, and they're both inactive.

When will we see another month with 7 of the top 12 fighters active? If history is any indication, we'll have to wait until 2053. Hopefully it's sooner than that.

March 31, 2018

Anthony Joshua defends his interim SportsRatings Heavyweight championship belt, as well as the lesser WBA and IBF belts too, of course :) against Joseph Parker, who is #6 in the March rankings and holds the WBO belt currently. The fight takes place in Cardiff, Wales (Wales being part of the United Kingdom for the geographically-challenged).

Joshua (20-0, 20 KO) is the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist and a solid favorite over Parker (24-0, 18 KOs). Joshua is around a 6-1 favorite, down from nearly a 10-1 favorite overall early on.

Combined with Deontay Wilder's win over Luis Ortiz early this month, and Dillian Whyte's KO of Lucas Browne, this fight marks the 3rd big intra-top-12 bout of the month, making March of 2018 the best month for Heavyweight boxing since May of 1983. In addition, another fight on the undercard pits perennial #3 Alexander Povetkin vs. a comeback-attempting David Price (currently outside the top 100), the 2004 gold medalist vs. 2008 bronze medalist.

Coverage on Showtime in the U.S. begins at 5pm eastern time. Sky Box Office covers the bouts in the UK. It looks like Showtime might air the Povetkin bout, too, as it is about to start just a few minutes before Showtime picks things up. We'll see.

Bonus: Povetkin vs. Price round-by-round scoring: Povetkin's nose looks red pre-bout, as if he got hit during sparring. Price looks big but fairly good. Round 1: Povetkin staying out of range of Price's jab, closing in to punch. Price connects with his only decent shot at the end, but it's Povetkin's round 10-9. Round 2: Price jabbing stronger to open round 2; Povetkin moving in with combos but Price covers up well. Close round, but 20-18 Povetkin. Round 3: Price scores early but Povetkin FLATTENS Price with a counter right. He's up with 2 minutes left, with a cut but looks ok considering. Decent combo from Price. Price connects, too, sending Povetkin stumbling backward into the corner and the ref gives him a count! 9-9 round, 29-27 Povetkin. Round 4: Povetkin still looks slow, both fighters active yet tentative. Povetkin normally gets a second wind after 4 rounds, but that was possibly with some PED help...will we see the same Povetkin? 10-10; Povetkin 39-37. Round 5: Povetkin connects with a right which stops Price dead in his tracks, and follows by hitting the wide-open Price with a finishing left hook. Povetkin wins via 5th round KO. He will retain his #3 ranking for the umpteenth month (about 8 years' worth, now) regardless of the Joshua-Parker outcome.

Parker has entered the ring, Joshua is following. Then the national anthems, and fight should start in 15-20 minutes, a little before 6pm ET, 11pm UK.

Round-by-round scoring for Joshua vs. Parker:

Round One: Jab-fest early, most just out of range. Joshua holding his guard a lot higher than Parker. Joshua might have done a little more, but it was very close and I hate it when a nothing-doing first round has an effect on things. 10-10

Round Two: Both fighters try jab combos early, then long period of tentativeness from both to middle of round. Lots more of nothing, then a few exchanges, and the first clinch of the fight. Another tough round, mostly dead air. 20-20

Round Four: Joshua again controls the ring early, using jab well. Big whiff left hook from Joshua. Parker just out of range with jabs, clinches again. Joshua being very conservative as he stalks Parker, backs him up to end the round. Still very close rounds, not much real is connecting. Joshua 10-9, 40-38.

Round Five: Joshua jabs then follows with decent left hook. Parker finding it hard to close into range, but he is defending better than he has in the past. Still keeping guard low though. Parker comes off ropes charging at Joshua, they clinch. Solid combo by Parker surprises Joshua with less than a minute left. Joshua whiffs with big 1-2. Close round, we'll give it to Parker though for finishing stronger. 10-9; Joshua 49-48.

Round Six: Joshua connects, then Parker, then HUGE brawl in clinch broken up by ref. Joshua lunging in to conect, Parker lunges in too. Fighters are toe-to-toe now, both visibly tired at midpoint of round. Joshua gets in good punch while Parker tries to brawl more. Parker hooks during clinch. Exciting if sloppy round. Joshua 10-9; 59-57

Round Eight: Joshua's lead is pretty tentative, not doing anything spectacular from him yet, he might have a bit more urgency. Parker looks like he has the urgency. He's jumping in the way Povetkin did against Klitschko, trying to get inside. Parker holding his own in middle of round, dodging with head movement. Flurry from Joshua, Parker survives, ref jumps in for no reason? Weird. Parker's best round in a while, no more than a draw though 10-10; Joshua 79-76

Round Ten: We're now at the point where a biased scorer could have Parker ahead, or Joshua very far ahead. Joshua chasing Parker with the jab, Parker has a cut now. Joshua quick to clinch when he's chasing, for some reason. Joshua attempts uppercut from clinch. Parker on ropes, jumps to clinch. Glove has dangling tape yet again for Joshua. Joshua keeps grabbing back of Parker's neck in clinch in frustration. Joshua 10-9; 99-95

Round Twelve: More awkward clinching, over and over, amidst the jabbing. Good body shot by Joshua. Another good jab sequence by Joshua, who fires back recklessly to keep Joshua off him. 30 seconds left, no urgency by either fighter, though Parker looks pretty tired. Joshua 10-9; 119-113

So we score the bout 119-113 for Joshua, which with the FOUR 10-10 rounds, could be anything from 115-113 Joshua to 119-109 Joshua. So we expect a unanimous decision for Joshua, but the results could range from very close to very wide.

Official scorecards: Well, they went wide: 118-110 x 2, and 119-109 for Joshua. That matches our widest possible result (all close rounds to Joshua), so those are defensible scores if you look at who controlled the ring and the action. Either way, the result is correct, as Joseph Parker didn't really do much in most rounds other than survive and avoid taking damage.

Joshua remains the interim SportsRatings heavyweight champion, looking to eventually become our official champ as Tyson Fury remains inactive.

February 28, 2018

It's been a very slow year so far. There were hardly any significant matchups in heavyweight boxing in January or February of this year, but if everything goes as planned we're in for quite a show in March. There are three matchups between boxers in the SportsRatings top 12, the most since May of 1983.

The SportsRatings top 15 for March, 2018

-3Yr

-1Yr

-6mo

FebRank

MarRank

Fighter

Rating

Rated Record

February results;•March schedule

4

1

1

1

1

TYSON FURY

52.04

15-0-0

--last rated win -27 months.

33

5

2

2

2

ANTHONY JOSHUA

43.51

13-0-0

[interim HW champion]•3/31 vs. #6 JOSEPH PARKER

3

3

3

3

3

ALEX POVETKIN

36.18

27-1-0

•3/31 vs. #134 DAVID PRICE

6

4

5

4

4

DEONTAY WILDER

29.97

15-0-0

•3/03 vs. #7 LUIS ORTIZ

1

2

4

5

5

WLAD KLITSCHKO

28.88

42-5-0

--last rated win -34 months.

23

6

6

6

6

JOSEPH PARKER

24.66

13-0-0

•3/31 vs. #2 ANTHONY JOSHUA

35

7

7

7

7

LUIS ORTIZ

20.96

12-0-0

•3/03 vs. #4 DEONTAY WILDER

16

9

8

8

8

KYOTARO FUJIMOTO

19.37

10-1-0

--last rated win -13 months.

11

10

10

10

9

KUBRAT PULEV

18.35

17-1-0

13

8

9

9

10

LUCAS BROWNE

18.28

10-0-0

•3/23 vs. #12 DILLIAN WHYTE

65

16

14

11

11

JARRELL MILLER

16.41

6-0-0

36

20

18

12

12

DILLIAN WHYTE

15.83

8-1-0

•3/23 vs. #10 LUCAS BROWNE

41

24

21

14

13

DOMINIC BREAZEALE

14.64

9-1-0

12

13

12

13

14

CHARLES MARTIN

14.52

5-1-0

•3/03 vs. tba

--

--

--

19

15

FILIP HRGOVIC

14.39

2-0-0

UD 8 #66 SEAN TURNER

First, a preview of this month's action. Above is this month's top 15 with scheduled bouts noted. The highlights:

#2 Anthony Joshua vs. #6 Joseph Parker. This one comes at the end of the month and will determine the Interim Heavyweight Champion, a title Joshua currently holds. It's also for most of the alphabet titles: the IBF, WBA, and WBO, as well as the IBO rankings.

#3 Deontay Wilder vs. #7 Luis Ortiz. In just a few days we will (hopefully) get the fight that was scheduled months ago, but fell through. The winner gets the WBC belt currently held by Wilder.

#10 Lucas Browne vs. #12 Dillian Whyte. Neither fighter holds a belt but Browne is undefeated and Whyte has only lost to Joshua. The winner will end up somewhere between #5 and #8 depending on how all the other fights play out.

That's three intra-top 12 bouts, the most impressive total we've seen in over three decades. In addition, #3 Alex Povetkin faces David Price at the end of the month, and Charles Martin is scheduled to be on the Wilder undercard (a matchup with Curtis Harper fell through). If all of this happens, that will be 8 fighters active in the top 14 within the same month? When was the last time that happened?

The answer is May of 1983. In that month there were an incredible 4 intra-top-10 fights:

-3Yr

-1Yr

-6mo

May1983

June1983

Fighter

Rating

Rated Record

May 1983 results

2

1

1

1

1

LARRY HOLMES

87.32

27-0-0

SD 12 #9 TIM WITHERSPOON

9

3

3

2

2

MICHAEL DOKES

40.24

17-0-2

Draw 15 #5 MIKE WEAVER

17

5

7

6

3

GREG PAGE

33.07

14-1-0

UD 12 #3 RENALDO SNIPES

4

2

2

5

4

MIKE WEAVER

31.57

11-4-1

Draw 15 #2 MICHAEL DOKES

31

25

14

10

5

ST GORDON

27.35

4-0-0

UD 10 #4 TREVOR BERBICK

6

11

9

7

6

JOHN TATE

23.15

18-2-0

60

15

4

3

7

RENALDO SNIPES

21.73

11-3-1

L UD 12 #6 GREG PAGE

27

4

5

4

8

TREVOR BERBICK

20.04

13-4-1

L UD 10 #10 ST GORDON

3

9

8

8

9

GERRIE COETZEE

19.43

21-3-1

7

6

10

11

10

GERRY COONEY

18.19

12-1-0

--last rated win -24 months.

Above is our chart for the rankings for June of 1983, after the fights had happened. As you can see, the following results all occurred in the month of May:

#1-ranked Champion Larry Holmes scored a split decision win over #9 Tim Witherspoon, who fell out of the top 10.

#2 Michael Dokes fought to a draw in his rematch with Mike Weaver, who moved up from #5 to #4 as a result; Dokes remained at #2.

#6 Greg Page won a 12-round decision over #3 Renaldo Snipes; Snipes fell to #7 while Page jumped to #3.

#10 S.T. Gordon beat #4 Trevor Berbick, dropping Berbick to #8 while Gordon moved into the top 5.

That's quite an amazing array of fights within a month, especially by today's standards. What's more amazing is that the first three fights listed above were all on the same card on May 20th in Las Vegas! Think about that: there were three heavyweight title fights for different organizations on the same card. Holmes defended the WBC title, Dokes retained the WBA title, and Page took the USBA title.

And they were good, close fights too, with loads of controversy. Dokes and Weaver fought furiously from the start and most of the crowd thought Weaver had won. The Holmes fight was controversial, too, as many thought Witherspoon had beaten him; as it was, 2 of 3 judges thought Holmes had done enough. The Page/Snipes fight went to a unanimous decision, as did Gordon's win over a lackluster Berbick on the 28th.

After so many barren months (see January and February of this year!) and so many cancelled fights (see Wilder/Povetkin, the previous Wilder/Ortiz, Lucas Browne's drug issues, and Tyson Fury's endless inactivity), it would be a pleasant surprise if all the scheduled fights happen.

If they do, it should give heavyweight boxing quite a boost, and point the way toward a truly unified belt as the winners of the various fights line up to fight each other. Though the March 2018 schedule can't match the four top-10 bouts of May 1983, in this month's matchups there are a total of FIVE undefeated fighters; after the bouts there will be at least two, and no more than three; the rest of 2018 should have some great matchups, too.

August 26, 2017

As a website that covers both boxing and mixed martial arts, the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor clash is an interesting, if odd, occurrence. Here's our take.

First, let's realize that anything can happen in sports. When the Jets took on the Colts in Super Bowl III, the Jets were an 18-point underdog, the equivalent of around 20-1 underdogs. According to the latest odds, McGregor is only a 3-1 underdog. So just from Vegas, we would have to consider a much bigger upset to have happened, famously guaranteed by Joe Namath.

But the odds don't reflect reality. McGregor's fans are loading up on him as usual, distorting the line. The real odds should probably match those before Super Bowl III, because that's about the chance McGregor really has to beat Mayweather. About 20-1, with that one riding on a big, lucky punch. That's what McGregor needs to do to win—get in a big, lucky punch. Either that or win a DQ decision if Mayweather breaks a hand.

Realistically, if McGregor is going to win, he's going to have to win early. As seen in both fights with Nate Diaz, McGregor has about 8 minutes in him. Then he fades, fast and hard. Three minutes into the 2nd round of both fights he hit a wall. It didn't matter against Jose Aldo; he beat him in 13 seconds). And Eddie Alvarez was already in too big of trouble by the 8-minute mark and lost 4 minutes into round 2. That means McGregor has to do all his damage in 3 boxing rounds.

We don't see Mayweather knocking out McGregor. He's not a power puncher. There won't be any knockouts, or probably even knockdowns in this fight.

With all that in mind, here's how we see the fight most likely going:

Round One: Who knows how McGregor will come out? Probably not roaring and reckless, but acting like he belongs there. Mayweather will be similarly cautious. We're guessing there won't be any real fireworks early; both fighters know that they have to give the fans their money's worth, and that the fight buildup includes the first round. Call it a draw 10-10.

Round Two: McGregor knows he has to strike early, and round two is his moment. If he catches Floyd it will be in this round, after Floyd starts to get less cautious. Gaining confidence just from being in the ring, McGregor will rush Floyd and try to pressure him. Floyd will be on defense to weather the storm. 10-9 McGregor.

Round Three: McGregor's momentum continues for the first two minutes of the round, but then he hits the wall and runs out of gas. Floyd comes out of his defensive shell in the last minute of the round. Is it enough to win the round? Probably. Mayweather 10-9. As of this point, the fight is approximately a draw, with many different ways it could be scored.

Round Four: Mayweather starts to pick McGregor apart, methodically. Now McGregor is backing up and avoiding contact, but throws the occasional big shot in hope of landing something. This keeps Mayweather honest but the outcome is a clear 10-9 Mayweather round.

Round Five, Six: See round four above.

Round Seven: Things are looking very dire for McGregor by now, and after three rounds of being hit constantly, he is just holding on. Round Seven is where it starts to get embarrassing. No knockdown so it's still 10-9 Floyd, but in MMA rules this would be a 10-8 round.

Round Eight, Nine: Same as Round Seven above. The referee might be talking to Conor's corner at some point here, but they won't be throwing in the towel.

Round Ten: McGregor will not answer the bell for round ten.

That's how we see it. Three interesting rounds, three not-so-interesting rounds where Mayweather puts on a clinic against a tired McGregor, and three sad rounds that make people question whether this fight should have been made just for the sake of money.

It could go differently. No one thought the Jets could compete at all with the Colts, but they dominated, 16-7. Tellingly, they won with defense. It's very unlikely McGregor can do the same. But in huge upsets, the method is rarely foreseen as a possibility before it actually happens.

April 29, 2017

Anthony Joshua's11th round TKO of Wladimir Klitschko puts him at #2 in our Heavyweight rankings, ahead of previous interim champ Alex Povetkin, but still behind inactive #1 Tyson Fury. Klitschko drops from #2 to #3, his lowest ranking since March 2006 (in other words, since April of 2006, Wlad Klitschko has been either #1 or #2).

Interestingly Klitschko remains ever-so slightly ahead of Povetkin, whom he defeated a few years ago. And at #5 on our list, the other major player in the division, undefeated Deontay Wilder.

There's also #6 Joseph Parker and #7 Luis Ortiz, both undefeated, to reckon with. All in all, the division is as exciting as it's been since Lennox Lewis's reign. And Joshua vs. Klitschko might have been the best big HW fight since Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko over 10 years ago.

Wladimir Klitschko takes on Anthony Joshua for the interim SportsRatings Heavyweight title, as well as the IBF and WBA belts, at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

1996 Olympic gold medalist Klitschko (64-4, 53 KO), ranked #2 by SportsRatings currently, is a slight underdog to #5-ranked Joshua by the oddsmakers. Klitschko hasn't fought since losing his title to Tyson Fury in November of 2015, and hasn't won a fight since beating Bryant Jennings in April, 2015.

Joshua (18-0, 18 KO), the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist, has won 4 times since Klitschko lost his belt, beating Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin, Dominic Breazeale, and Eric Molina. None are among the biggest names in the division, but note that 3 of the 4 were undefeated before facing Joshua.

Either 41-year-old Klitschko will make a huge comeback win and re-establish himself as the man to beat at heavyweight, or the torch will be passed to the 27-year-old Joshua, who most believe is the future of the division.

Klitschko weighed in at a relatively light 240 1/4 pounds, with Joshua tipping the scales at 250. Both fighters are giants, standing 6' 6" apiece.

The fight is set to begin sometime around 5pm eastern U.S. time. Both fighters have entered the ring. Arnold Schwarzeneggar is in the crowd. Vitali Klitschko's wife is the performer for the Ukranian national anthem.

Round-by-round scoring follows:

Round One: Klitschko jabbing hurredly at the start. Joshua gets a few decent right hands in. Wlad wary of Joshua's punches. Rare fight where Klitschko doesn't dwarf his opponent and have a huge reach advantage. Wlad jabbing less as the round goes on. Wlad finds his way in but clinches. Interesting first round with no clear winner but Joshua landed the only punches that mattered. Joshua 10-9.

Round Two: BIG right from Klitshko to start round 2, Joshua takes it well and is using his jab more early. Joshua doing better controlling ring space in round 2. Fighters still testing each other. Not much else happening this round, less action as the round continues. If we gave Joshua r1 for bigger punches, we can give this to Wlad for that opening punch, as neither round was dominant. 10-9 Klitschko, 19-19.

Round Three: A lot of action early in the round from both. Joshua pushing forward missing with big punches. Klitschko trying to hold a bit but isn't going to be able to do it. So far Klitschko hasn't folded from big pressure, and Joshua hasn't backed down from Wlad's jab at all. Ref is separating the clinch quickly. Both fighters having trouble with the other's style, lots of misses. We punt on this one. 10-10, 29-29.

Round Four: Another big right from Klitschko to start the round! Joshua takes it well again. Joshua connects with a not-as-big right hand. Clinch and Joshua warned for hitting on break, no big deal. Wlad whiffs as Joshua ducks. Good body shots by Joshua. Klitschko has been lighter on his feet as Joshua stays planted but Joshua moving more now. Jab by Joshua who probably did better in the 2nd half of the round but overall hard to score as Joshua missed on his biggest shots. Fuck it, 10-10, 39-39.

Round Five: Joshua explodes out of the gate with a flurry and puts Wlad down! Klitschko holding on with 2 minutes left in round and a bad cut. Now at midpoint of round Joshua is looking tired, as is Klitschko. Big shots from Klitschko but Joshua battling back too!! Joshua is dead tired and Klitschko is hitting him with everything he's got! Round ends, should be 10-8 for Joshua but did Klitschko battle back enough to make it just 10-9? Joshua never went down, so 10-8 Joshua, 49-47.

Round Six: Cut on Wlad's eye is bad. Fighters start where they left off but not as exhausted. Pause while Joshua's mouthpiece is put in. Klitschko right puts Joshua down!! Now both are clinching and punching, Joshua is ducking low and is in trouble. Klitschko keeps missing with crosses as Joshua ducks, but then landing uppercuts. Incredible fight. Klitschko 10-8; 57-57.

Round Seven: Wow, here we go. Klitschko walking down Joshua, who looks uncertain but recovered mostly. Klitschko looks confident but still has that bad cut. Klitschko scoring but not threatening Joshua at this point, taking his time while Joshua is trying to rest and recover his confidence. Joshua is still TALKING to Klitschko, seems foolish at this point. Klitschko is being conservative, picking off jabs when possible. Wlad clinches and Joshua looks happy for the chance to rest, and he comes alive for this first time in the round with less than 30 seconds left. Round was all Klitschko, 10-9; 67-66.

Round Eight: Joshua comes to the center early, looking more recovered now. Klitschko still confident. Joshua decent body shot with left hand. Huge right from Klitschko whiffs! Joshua throwing heat, for first time in 3 rounds. Klitschko jabbing well again, and moving well. Decent punches from both connect. Wlad clinches with 20 seconds left. Another close round, we'll keep it even: 10-10; Klitschko 77-76.

Round Nine: Again both look to start fast, this is great. Joshua is fully recovered and Wlad's cut isn't an issue anymore. Wlad misses with a right while Joshua goes to the body. Two are tangled up. Joshua makes Wlad miss again, Wlad backs up to avoid body shot. Joshua connects with two shots with a minute left. Action pause as both tire a bit. Right hand from Joshua, and two quick body shots. Joshua 10-9; 86-86.

Round Ten: Joshua jumps in quickly with 1-2, Klitschko bouncing, dancing away. Two collide jumping in, clinch, separate. Jab from Klitschko, Joshua answers. Again the action slows later in the round. Both fighters dodging the big shots well. Joshua clubbed with right hand late. Another close round. 10-10; 96-96. This is going to be a close decision assuming it makes it that far. Should be an amazing final 2 rounds.

Round Eleven: Joshua hurts Wlad early with 3 big punches. Klitschko running away for his life in the 11th. Klitschko returns fire but eats another punch before clinching. A huge uppercut from Joshua how did Klitschko stay up! Now he's down!!! 1:30 left in round...now Joshua puts him down again and that might be it...no he's up with 1 minute left!!! Fight is stopped with 30 seconds left, ANTHONY JOSHUA WINS

That was the best heavyweight fight I've seen in a long time. The final stoppage was a bit quick I think, but after being down twice, there was no leeway to protest, and Klitschko has not protested.

Unlike Tyson Fury, who "beat" Klitschko by barely engaging, Anthony Joshua took it to him, almost suffered the consequences himself, but held on and came back with a huge 11th round.

Gold medalist Joshua really looks like the future of the heavyweight division, and tonight was the true passing of the torch, in epic fashion in one of the great heavyweight fights of all time. Wlad Klitschko has nothing to be ashamed of putting on this performance at age 41 after one of the great careers in boxing history.

And, if there was ever a fight that was going to renew interest in heavyweight boxing, this was it. We shall see.

March 04, 2017

Tony Bellew did the completely unexpected Saturday, beating David Haye when Haye's corner threw in the towel in the 11th round.

Haye had been knocked down for the 2nd time in the fight and fell between the ropes; he had climbed his way back in and stood up, seemingly beating the count, before the towel came flying in.

Haye fought for six rounds with a badly injured ankle—the announcers seemed to think it was a torn Achilles' tendon, but it seems unlikely he could have even moved if that were the case. Whatever the problem, Haye got in big trouble in the 6th round where he fell down twice and was knocked down once as Bellew smelled blood. Haye weathered that storm and fought on, but was greatly diminished.

Even in the early rounds Haye didn't dominate. Bellew won the first round with a good shot or two, and the next four rounds were slightly in Haye's favor as he stalked Bellew, unable to connect with the big shot he wanted. He whiffed several times on looping punches as Bellew did a great job dodging and eluding Haye's best efforts.

After the 6th round the scorecards were basically even, and Bellew built a lead after that. Haye was still dangerous, though, as he hobbled on the ankle, trying to score the KO that would salvage the fight. Bellew fought smart and avoided trouble for the most part, and waited for his own opportunities. It finally happened in the 11th.

Bellew, a cruiserweight who moved up (or fattened up) to 215 pounds for his first heavyweight fight, will debut in our Top 100 around #16 or so, while Haye—formerly #17—will drop out of the top 50.

December 19, 2016

Alexander Povetkin claimed his first share of the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing title in his long career, but he did so under the dodgiest of circumstances and won a fight which could conceivably be overturned to a No Contest.

Povetkin, who has been #3 in the Heavyweight rankings for around 7 straight years, beat Johann Duhaupas by KO in the 6th round in Russia. This result, coupled with the inactivity of #1 ranked Tyson Fury and #2 Wladimir Klitschko, makes the Povetkin our Interim Champion—despite remaining #3 in the rankings. And despite some questions about Povetkin's worthiness.

SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 10 as of December 18, 2016:

-3Yr

-1Yr

-6mo

Dec1

Dec18

Fighter

Rating

Rated Record

December 1-17 results

5

1

1

1

1

TYSON FURY

62.77

15-0-0

last rated win -12 months.

1

2

2

2

2

WLAD KLITSCHKO

51.30

42-4-0

last rated win -19 months.

3

3

3

3

3

ALEX POVETKIN

33.78

25-1-0

KO 6 #18 JOHANN DUHAUPAS[new Interim HW champion]

16

6

5

4

4

DEONTAY WILDER

27.28

13-0-0

--

15

6

5

5

ANTHONY JOSHUA

26.40

11-0-0

TKO 3 #77 ERIC MOLINA

46

17

12

9

6

JOSEPH PARKER

22.64

11-0-0

MD 12 #12 ANDY RUIZ JR

54

12

8

7

7

LUIS ORTIZ

21.63

12-0-0

TKO 7 #100 DAVID ALLEN

19

16

7

8

8

LUCAS BROWNE

21.03

10-0-0

2

4

4

6

9

VITALI KLITSCHKO

20.27

27-2-0

last rated win -51 months.

4

14

10

10

10

KUBRAT PULEV

18.32

16-1-0

RET 3 Samuel Peter

Povetkin tested positive for Ostarine just prior to the fight, which was to have been a match against Bermane Stiverne. Normally that would mean cancellation of the fight—just as it did for Povetkin's prior matchup with Deontay Wilder. In that case, Povetkin's Meldonium level was scant and likely due to ingestion in 2015, which was legal. But this time, it meant that despite the WBC withdrawing its sanctioning of the fight, the fight went off as planned—with last-minute replacement Duhaupas subbing for Stiverne, who was uninterested in a fight that wouldn't be a sanctioned eliminator.

Confused yet? Another interesting note is that the man Povetkin took the Interim title from is none other than Deontay Wilder—the man who would have faced the winner of Povetkin-Stiverne.

If Povetkin's "B" sample also tests positive, the fight may be ruled a No Contest...or perhaps not. Lately fighters have been testing positive and getting bans of various lengths while their results stand. Lucas Browne is one case; his win over Ruslan Chagaev was not overturned as investigators were sympathetic to his arguments that he consumed clenbuterol inadvertantly.

So if the results stand, Povetkin will remain the interim champ until April 29, 2017 when #2 Wladimir Klitschko faces #5 Anthony Joshua in London. Unless that fight doesn't happen for some reason.

And if the result of Povetkin's fight is overturned, then the interim championship will revert retroactively back to #4 Wilder, and he'll hold it until April.

Another question: Why don't we disqualify Povetkin for his alleged drug use? Because, quite plainly and simply, there is no way to know who is using what, due to the ineffectiveness of testing in the sport of boxing. We use official results, and hopefully when cheaters are caught, results are overturned and bans are issued. This way we can keep a record of fights and use that—and only that—in making our rankings, without all sorts of modifiers and notes about PED allegations and test results.

Unfortunately that doesn't always work out. Erkan Teper tested positive multiple times and his wins over Duhaupas (funny how the same names pop up?) and David Price remained. He was banned for two years by the German Boxing Federation but still allowed to fight by other organizations. Luckily, he was defeated by Christian Hammer which knocked Teper out of the top ten. Karma sometimes works in strange ways. Duhaupas had no such luck against Povetkin, but hopefully the Klitschko-Joshua fight gives us a more worthy Interim Champion.

Assuming of course, that those two are clean fighters. One never knows...

December 02, 2016

November was a crazy month in the MMA Lightweight division, as seen in this month's rankings:

MMA Lightweight rankings for December, 2016

NovRank

DecRank

Fighter

WC

Rating

Rated Record

Pro

November results;•December schedule

3

1

Conor McGregor

LW

68.04

11-1-0

UFC

Beat #1 Eddie Alvarez

1

2

Eddie Alvarez

LW

50.71

22-5-0

UFC

Lost to #3 Conor McGregor

8

3

Tony Ferguson

LW

46.03

9-1-0

UFC

Beat #2 Rafael dos Anjos

2

4

Rafael dos Anjos

LW

37.57

16-7-0

UFC

Lost to #8 Tony Ferguson

5

5

Khabib Nurmagomedov

LW

33.85

9-0-0

UFC

Beat #18 Michael Johnson

89

6

Eduard Folayang

LW

29.00

7-4-0

One

Beat #4 Shinya Aoki

7

7

Edson Barboza

LW

27.81

13-4-0

UFC

14

8

Beneil Dariush

LW

27.61

8-2-0

UFC

Beat #9 Rashid Magomedov

4

9

Shinya Aoki

LW

27.10

32-6-0

One

Lost to #89 Eduard Folayang

25

10

Michael Chandler

LW

25.13

10-3-0

Bel

Beat #6 Benson Henderson

Conor McGregor takes over the top spot from Eddie Alvarez, while Tony Ferguson knocks previous champ Rafael dos Anjos to #4. Khabib Nurmagomedov waits patiently (or not so much) at #5, while Eduard Folayang pulled off the upset of the month in beating Shinya Aoki. Folayang flies in at #6 all the way from #89 among Lightweights! Beneil Dariush and Michael Chandler join the top 10 after upset wins over Rashid Magomedov and Benson Henderson respectively.

As for December, the Welterweight division will be particularly active, but it's the Bantamweight division with the most action at the top of the rankings:

MMA Bantamweight rankings for December, 2016

NovRank

DecRank

Fighter

WC

Rating

Rated Record

Pro

November results;•December schedule

1

1

Dominick Cruz

BW

35.66

14-1-0

UFC

•12/30 vs. Cody Garbrandt

2

2

Bibiano Fernandes

BW

30.93

15-1-0

One

•12/3 vs. Reece McLaren

3

3

Marlon Moraes

BW

26.24

7-0-0

WSoF

•12/31 vs. Josenaldo Silva

4

4

T.J. Dillashaw

BW

23.22

6-2-0

UFC

•12/30 vs. #6 John Lineker

5

5

Eduardo Dantas

BW

19.57

11-3-0

Bel

•12/2 vs. Joe Warren

6

6

John Lineker

BW

18.10

7-1-0

UFC

•12/30 vs. #4 TJ Dillashaw

The top six fighters in the division are active, with Dominick Cruz facing Cody Garbrandt, Bibiano Fernandez taking on Reece McLaren in One Championship, and Marlon Maraes against Josenaldo Silva in World Series of Fighting. Also in the UFC, #4 TJ Dillashaw tackles #6 John Lineker, with the winner possible taking over the #2 spot.